When you think about it, the Netflix original sensation that was “Bridgerton” is essentially a fictional, period-piece version of “The Bachelor,” what with all these impossibly good-looking, mostly shallow, gossip-mongering people—most of them never inconvenienced by a daily work schedule—gathering for another season of orchestrated romance, with staged events and shocking reveals and emotional confrontations and the occasional shirtless dalliance before two people who were complete strangers just a few weeks earlier find themselves declaring their undying devotion to one another.
Phew! And there we are on the sidelines, soaking it all up—and while I wouldn’t call it “hate-watching,” there’s a certain level of Disdain Viewing taking place here, as we hoot and holler and shake our heads at the petty antics of these self-absorbed ninnies in their costumed finery, even while marveling at the glossy spectacle of it all and somehow finding ourselves actually invested in the lives of these wonderfully silly people. It’s escapism TV at its best, and while Season Two of “Bridgerton” doesn’t feel quite as captivating or fresh as the original, we couldn’t help but gobble up every single episode in a single viewing, and we bet you will as well, Dear Viewer. (To paraphrase Lady Whistledown.)
